C.K. Garrison

Cornelius Kingsland Garrison (1 March 1809-1 May 1885) was an American businessman who served as Mayor of San Francisco from 3 October 1853 to 1 October 1854, succeeding Charles James Brenham and preceding Stephen Palfrey Webb.

Biography
Cornelius Kingsland Garrison was born in Fort Montgomery, New York in 1809, and he moved to Buffalo in 1830 to work as a builder. In 1834, he moved to Canada to build bridges, and he moved to St. Louis in 1839, making a fortune from owning, building, and commanding boats. He later moved to Panama to work as an agent for a Nicaraguan steamship firm, and he also established a banking firm. Charles Morgan hired him as an agent for his steamship service through Panama, and, while he was working as the San Francisco agent for Cornelius Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company, he also served as Mayor of San Francisco from 1853 to 1854. In 1856, he and Morgan convinced President of Nicaragua William Walker to revoke Vanderbilt's transit contract in the country and give Garrison and Morgan the transit rights for their own company, sealing all three of their fates. Vanderbilt angrily confronted the two men and had them both demoted, while he sent agents to the Costa Rican government to help it overthrow Walker. During the American Civil War, Garrison let the US Navy use his ships, and he became a railroad president after the war's end. He died of a heart attack in New York City in 1885.